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Here are some lessons learned by those who care for Barker Field: About 4th of July Fireworks: (posted 7/7/06) Don't accept loads of chips into the park after May 4th. The dog park is used as the launching area for the city's fireworks display on July 4th, and the chips need to season on the ground to satisfy the Fire Marshall's criteria for safety, and then they provide a fine surface for the show. (In the summer of '05 we were still spreading fresh chips on the 4th, the park's supervisor had to come level the piles with a tractor, and the crowd of 40,000 had to wait an hour and a half while fire trucks soaked the chips to make them safe before lighting the show.) The day of the event the city erects and polices a safety fence around the dog park at the perimeter suggested by fireworks guidelines to protect against the hazards of low-level explosions or misdirected shells during the show. After the show the crew searches within the perimeter for any debris, especially unexploded shells. In the summer of '06 volunteers picked up the remaining debris, about 10 bags full, and let their dogs into the park. FOBF board members need to make sure the closing date/time and expected opening date/time are announced in advance of the event. Future discussions will determine who should bear the expense of the signs. Details of the closing/opening were posted in advance at the park and in the Yahoo Group in '05, but not in '06, so we need to organize some way to ensure that board members facilitate the closing and opening of the park. The danger of fireworks 'residue' has been brought to our attention by some users of the park. Early morning users of the park following the '06 event did pick up stuff they felt was hazardous as they policed the lot before letting their dogs run in the main enclosure. Some park users arriving mid-morning believed that there was some danger that the show somehow comtaminated the ground and WTVR carried their concern in a news segment broadcast on the 5th. So, we need to address these concerns, too... The 'dog-lock' with two gates and a small 'salley area' is an essential feature for a dog park. An unfortunate incident soon after Barker Field was opened taught this lesson. There was only a single gate before, and when it was left ajar dogs escaped and were drawn over to Maymont by the aroma from the elk. A dog was killed running across the boulevard. $600 was spent to add the section of fence and 2nd gate, which was done immediately. One suggested improvement is to add a 2nd gate to enclose the area where the super (poop) cans are kept and make it easier for city personnel to get at the cans without risking escape of dogs as they work. Short fences around small dog enclosures within a larger park don't work. Although they keep little dogs enclosed, big dogs jump over them. Worse, _people_ sit on them and make them sag even shorter. In the winter of '05 volunteers removed the short fence around our small dog enclosure, and replaced it with 4 foot chain link. The result has been an active small dog enclosure that keeps big dogs out. And the fence is too tall to sit on. 'Mulch' is too fine to use for covering an urban dog park. Neither can a couple-acre field be left as grass, since it will soon be a dust/mud bowl. We use 'chips' produced by the chippers used by tree-maintenance outfits. The Dept of Works was the supplier of chips for four years, but no longer (as of winter '05) chips trees onsite, now carries them to a larger shredding machine that makes mulch. Now, winter of '05, Bartlett Tree Service has delivered us a load which is fine for the purpose. We're waiting for delivery of the eight or ten loads needed to freshen the park for this spring. The watering area for dogs needs to be adequately drained. We are pleased that the Parks Dept brought a water line over to Barker Field from a nearby shelter, so there's plenty of water for the dogs. We learned that six or eight inches of pea gravel enclosed in landscape timbers around an ourdoor watering area eventually becomes a mudhole with an unpleasant aroma. To solve a 3-year problem more-or-less permanently, volunteers in the winter of '05 trenched a drain field down the hill away from the dogs' water faucet, filled it with lots of rock, put a distribution box directly under the water bowl, installed perforated drain pipe, and covered the thing over. Now, no amount of paddling or dumping the bowl seems to make any difference, and the heavy river stone now enclosed in landscape timbers stays dry. (This is as of Fall '05) As of March 15, 2006, we're still learning about the watering area, which floods water into the area between the double-gated entrance, making that and the area around the watering area muddy! After some months, the soil and gravel around the opening of the distibution box has subsided, so water doesn't go into the 'french drain' at all, just spills out and makes mud. Volunteers helped with diggin up and hauling off lots of nasty stuff from it, digging out the mucky stuff to make a 'bowl' shape with the bottom at the new drain. This was lined with donated pond liner and shaped to spill water directly into the drain. A few hundred pounds of river rocks were added, making the area clean & clean-smelling again. But, this isn't the final solution as water is still spilling out of the area... More about this as it's learned... The water _bowl_ itself has been a matter of some debate. For some time it has been a large, pressed, stainless steel bowl. It's tipped over by large dogs who paddle in it, and dog owners are constantly filling it with clean water. A volunteer made a heavy frame out of salt-treated 4X4, made so the big bowl (must be 15 or 18 inches) _just_ fits inside the frame. This has cut bowl-tipping incidents to zero. The Dept of Works employees who empty our super cans of bagged dog poop appreciate the bagging. And, they'd rather empty larger containers less often. And, the containers need to be kept right next to the gates so their time is kept to a minimum. We welcome any other lessons learned about care and use of dog parks.